Charles Oliver Bond Davis, named after the Irish patriot,
was born in Sydney in 1816, his father being an Irish
stonecutter. The early death of his parents left Davis and
his younger brothers under the care of a sister aged 15. Five
years later, after her marriage to a Captain William Young,
the couple migrated to Hokianga in the brig
Tranmore, bringing with them Edward and Charles
Davis.

Young, a man of faith and rectitude in the dubious
environment of early Hokianga, appears for a time to have
continued the education of his junior brother-in-law. A
little later Davis became associated with the family of
William Woon, helping possibly as a part-time tutor. From his
first years in New Zealand he acquired and extended a
commanding knowledge of Maori and may have attracted the
attention of the officials present during the Waitangi Treaty
negotiations at Hokianga. In 1842 he entered Government
service as a clerk and interpreter, rising to the position of
chief interpreter in the Native Secretary's Office from which
he resigned in 1857.

Davis's knowledge of Maori, his personal sympathy with and
understanding of the Maori outlook, in conjunction with his
official position, led an increasing number of influential
Maoris to turn to him for advice and assistance. In 1855 he
published Maori Mementos, which comprised a
collection of old songs, laments, and stories, together with
a series of addresses presented by the Maori people to Sir
George Grey prior to his departure from New Zealand in
December 1853. Davis soon became involved in the affairs of
the Waikato and attended, among other meetings, one at
Ihumata in June 1857 to collect money for a Maori printing
press. He also edited and issued papers in the Maori
language. Advice which he gave to Wiremu Tamihana when that
chief was rebuffed in his request for Government assistance
in the erection of a flourmill, may have been a factor in
developing Tamihana's support for the King movement. Although
Davis in his evidence before the Waikato Committee in 1860
recalled the incident as occurring in 1857, it has been
argued that the interview in fact took place two years
earlier. In February 1857 Davis submitted a plan for a
three-fold separation of native affairs into general
administration, legal responsibilities, and land
purchasing.

The next decade was one of frustration and difficulty for
Davis. During the period of the Maori Wars, when the weight
of public opinion was strongly against Maori sympathisers,
Davis was charged with having published a seditious libel in
the form of a Ngaiterangi satire on the Arawa. He was,
however, acquitted. He was able to work with McLean during
the latter's terms of office as Native Minister, preparing
the ground for visits to the Waikato and elsewhere and
assisting with Court work in Rotorua and Taupo. To McLean, to
whom he expressed his indebtedness on a number of occasions,
he dedicated his second major work, The Life and Times of
Patuone (1876). In addition to his contributions to the
Maori Messenger, Davis, as a versifier on religious
and other themes, issued a number of his poems as broadsides
as well as his Temperance Songs for the Maori
(1873). He died at Auckland on 28 June 1887.

Davis appeals today as a man worthy of our interest and
respect. He was a notable Maori scholar, but his finest
achievement was the attempt to bring about a racial
rapprochement by means of a rare Christianity and
understanding of the Maori mind and mode of life. Had his
example been followed by the leaders of the day, the problem
of Maori-Pakeha relationship might well have been solved
without recourse to war.

Co-creator

How to cite this page: 'DAVIS, Charles Oliver Bond', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New ZealandURL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/1966/davis-charles-oliver-bond (accessed 22 Mar 2019)